Heaven
by bent reality
Summary: He had three days before he was to move into his aunt's house in a place called Karakura Town. Three days before he was leaving everything behind... maybe starting over in another place wasn't such a bad idea after all. – AU Bleach/Junjou Romantica. Post Winter War. Not everything is as easy as it looks, or as bad as it seems. Mentions of violence, character death & m-slash.
1. Hello, Goodbye

**Disclaimer: **All characters appearing in Bleach and Junjou Romantica belong to Kubo Tite and Nakamura Shungaku respectively. No infringement of copyright is intended and is not authorised by the respective copyright holders. All original characters are the property of Bent Reality.

**Author Notes: **This is my first fan fiction and it features a crossover of two fandoms that I love. It is a story with characters from both Bleach and Junjou Romantica (with focus on Junjou Egoist). It is set during post-Winter War for Bleach and sometime after Nowaki is already working as a doctor. As I am taking some artistic license with certain events, please note that Heaven is AU for both fandoms. Original character(s) will be featured too.

I will be using the Japanese naming convention as I find it awkward to do otherwise. Here's to hoping that you'll find it to be an interesting journey :)

Also, I'm curious about one thing – do people prefer having the author notes placed before or after each chapter?

**Warnings:** Heaven contains material relating to mature topics such as m-slash, character death(s) and violence.

* * *

**Hello, Goodbye**

_Hello, Nowaki-san._

_Hello, Kotomo-kun._

These days, Komoto Seiji felt too old.

Bent over the kitchen sink for the thirteenth time this morning, he watched the contents of his stomach swirl in the rushing tap water. He hadn't managed to make it to the toilet in time. Rubbing against his mouth in a vain attempt to rid himself of the vile smell, Seiji slid downwards, closing his eyes as his body touched the cool floor tiles. The phone was ringing. He ignored it in favour of curling up against himself, fingers plugged into his ears to block out the noise.

It was a pity he couldn't block his sickness in the same way.

The twenty-year-old man stifled a sob. He wanted to go back home, where ever that was. Anywhere but here. He didn't want to add on to his suffering by bumping into Nowaki-san in the hospital. The tall man had such a kind smile, always ready with a bright greeting, that it was hard to hate his sincerity. They had met by chance; Seiji was sitting on the floor and Nowaki-san had, quite literally, tripped over him when he turned round the corner. The doctor had immediately apologised, kneeling beside him when Seiji did not respond. He had been in a daze after realising that he had a finite amount of time in this world, and, unable to digest the news, wandered in the hospital till his legs ached.

"_Smile, Kotomo-kun. Isn't it easier to live with a smile?"_

Seiji hadn't known what to respond to that. It was only when Nowaki-san pressed a neatly ironed handkerchief in his hands that he felt the tears dripping. Embarrassed, he covered his face with the proffered handkerchief and mumbled his thanks, to which Nowaki-san simply chuckled and said that he could take all the time he needed. From then on, Seiji made it a point to visit the paediatrician ward whenever he could, sometimes skipping classes just to see the handsome doctor. It made him happy to see Nowaki-san almost every other day. He had even confessed to the doctor that seeing him motivated his will to live. Thankfully, Nowaki-san seemed to take it that Seiji was interested in becoming a paediatrician in the future and Seiji did not correct his assumption.

It was just a harmless crush, wasn't it?

What Seiji had not been prepared for was the sight of Nowaki-san kissing another man. He had been excited that day, wanting to show Nowaki-san the new course of medicine that his doctor had prescribed due to the improvement of his health. Like a child, he had scoured through the hospital floors before deciding to sneak into the staff lounge frequented by paediatricians. Upon seeing the familiar silhouette, he barged in with a delighted smile.

"Nowa− ah!"

The pill bottles dropped with a loud clatter. Nowaki-san's arms were still around the stranger's waist, fingers draped protectively over the man's face to prevent Seiji from seeing who it was. All he could see was a tuft of brown hair and a quick flash of widened, brown eyes.

His gaze finally took in Nowaki-san's surprisingly calm features. It was as if the doctor did not care that he had just been caught kissing another male in the hospital. He gulped nervously and took a step backwards, ready to flee from the scene.

"Wait!" The stranger suddenly shouted. He pushed Nowaki-san's hand out of his face, sharp features contorted by an irate expression. Pulling his hair in a manner that would have been comical in other less tensed situations, he proceeded to slap the back of Nowaki-san's head, wiping off the doctor's coldly calm expression. "Stupid! I've told you not to do this sort of things outside!" the stranger snarled, his cheeks stained red.

"I can't help it when Hiro-san is so adorable," Nowaki said affectionately, his gentle voice taking on a teasing lilt as his fingers ran across the stranger's arm suggestively.

It was too much for Seiji to bear.

"Ah... um... s-sorry for... I was just... uh..." Seiji couldn't stop stuttering, his heart following the same imbalanced rhythm as his throat tightened. His breathing got harsher when he recognised the symptoms of another panic attack. Nowaki-san seemed to have noticed it too, for he had walked over to Seiji. "Take deep, slow breaths, Kotomo-kun," he instructed, motioning for the stranger to come over. The stranger acquiesced, almost sprinting over when Seiji's knees weakened.

The two men supported him to the navy blue sofa. Seiji sank down in relief, evening out his breathing with the comforting words from Nowaki-san. He knew that he looked absolutely silly like this, and that added on to the weight on his heart when he heard the soft exchange between Nowaki-san and 'Hiro-san'.

"Don't you think we should get him to another doctor?"

"His doctor is on his rounds right now, Hiro-san. In any case, I will get the receptionist to page him right now."

Seiji lifted his head slowly. "It's... okay. I'm alright. Just..." He didn't know what else to say.

"Looks like we gave you a big scare, huh?"

"Oi, stop turning this into something funny!"

"Ah, sorry Hiro-san... I thought it'd be nice to make Kotomo-kun more relaxed with some silly jokes."

_I'm still here!_ Seiji thought, jealous of the easy banter between the two. He smiled politely and dipped his head in a bow. "Thank you both of your concern. I'm alright. Didn't expect to see... but I promise to keep it a secret, Nowaki-san. I owe you too much." He injected as much politeness as he could, determined not to let his facade crack in front of his crush and 'Hiro-san'.

Not giving a chance for the doctor to respond, Seiji turned to face 'Hiro-san' instead. "Nice to meet you. My name is Kotomo Seiji. Please excuse my behaviour." He bobbed his head in the imitation of another bow.

"Ah, it's nice to meet you too. I'm Kamijou Hiroki and... thankyouforkeepingitasecret."

Seiji blinked, taking a moment to figure out what the brunette had just said, "No problem, Kamijou-san... um, I have to go now." He stood up gingerly, waving away Nowaki-san's hands with a small smile. "I'm alright, really." So saying, he mustered his confidence to stride towards the door, only to be stopped by Kamijou. The fallen pill bottles were in his hands, and the man held them out expectantly. Anxious that Kamijou might have read the prescriptions' details, Seiji snatched them hurriedly with a quick word of thanks, and then bolted from the staff lounge before either man could stop him.

_It's been four days since I've seen Nowaki-san and... who the hell is calling me?!_

The phone was still ringing when Seiji finally got up from the floor. Instead of picking it up, he stood in front of the phone, staring listlessly till the machine beeped. One voice message.

"... Ah, Sei-kun? It's me, Aunt Ayako. I know what happened, Sei-kun and... ah, look at me now. Wanting to nag at you again. Anyway, I will be moving in the next three days and I think that this house will be very empty without anybody inside it. It is a beautiful house, Sei-kun. A little like the one your mother has always loved–"

His aunt's voice was soothing. He found himself laughing silently when his aunt started talking about other things, complaining about how his cousin was being too busy with his work to spend time with his old mother. There was no need to ask how Aunt Ayako knew about his condition. She would accept everything about him, and, he supposed that this phone call was a way of letting him know that she cared.

"... Karakura Town is small, but there are plenty of young people like you! And you know what? Right next to your future house is the residential doctor!" Aunt Ayako's voice trembled a little, as if she was chuckling nervously. "He can be a little... strange, but he's a legitimate doctor, I promise! He's got a son and two daughters too, so I'm sure that you'll get along just fine with them."

Wait. What was Aunt Ayako going on about?

"And so, the movers will be here tomorrow morning to take your belongings. Everything will be handed over to you too. Keys, lock codes... I'm sure that you'll love it here, Sei-kun. Alright, got to run off to settle those silly details, haha!"

The message ended abruptly with Aunt Ayako's boisterous laugh. Seiji was dumbfounded. He knew his aunt was just as, if not more, spontaneous than his mother, but had she just casually decided to relocate him without asking?

Another round of listening to the message confirmed it. He had three days before he was to move into his aunt's old house in a place called Karakura Town. Three days before he was leaving everything behind...

Maybe starting over in another place wasn't such a bad idea after all.

_Goodbye, Nowaki-san._


	2. Resilience

**Disclaimer: **All characters appearing in Bleach and Junjou Romantica belong to Kubo Tite and Nakamura Shungaku respectively. No infringement of copyright is intended and is not authorised by the respective copyright holders. All original characters are the property of Bent Reality.

**Author Notes: **Chapter 2 is finally up! Not everything is fine and dandy after Soul Society's defeat. We're off to a slow start and you'll start to see why in the next couple of chapters. There's going to be a lot of going back-and-forth in terms of the timeline but I'll try to make it as clear as possible by labeling the dates.

**Warnings:** Heaven contains material relating to mature topics such as m-slash, character death(s) and violence.

**Resilience**

_5th of February, Karakura Town_

Once, Kurosaki Yuzu had led a normal life with an ordinary family. An (over)energetic father, a loving mother, a dependable elder brother and a twin sister who knew her best. They were happy.

Now, she wasn't so sure of what normalcy was anymore.

Her mother was gone, killed by the same monsters that fell from the skies that day. She almost wished that they hadn't told her the truth.

On the surface, her father seemed the same. But it wasn't hard to notice how the bedsheets of her parents' room remained pristine, how her father always slipped into the clinic when he thought everyone else was already asleep.

Ichi-nii, too, had changed. She pretended not to have seen it, the way his brows furrowed harder whenever somebody (_Rukia-__san, Abarai-san, Ishida-san, Orihime-san, Sado-san–_) showed up. All she could do was to cook delicious meals and smile brightly at her brother's friends, even if she had no idea how some of them looked like (_but that was before, __was't it?_)

Karin became stronger. Faster. Tougher. Her sister had known of all these things long before she did, and, when she realised that she was the _last _to understand, Yuzu had to wonder.

_Why?_

Did they think she would end up like Okaa-san (_dead and gone forever_)?

Yuzu was no fool. She knew how it looked like: she, the youngest child, resembled her Okaa-san the most. Even her cooking was on par, a fact that she knew reassured her family in ways that others would never understand. And this resemblance made her family wrap her up in their protective embrace, believing that sweet, kind Yuzu should never see nor understand the horrors of the world.

The ambition of a man changed that. Karakura became embroiled in a war that living souls were ignorant of. Those who were slightly spiritually aware only had minutes to spare before their lives were snuffed out like the rest. Fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, lovers – many died without knowing what happened.

Yuzu knew it wasn't luck that saved her. Urahara-san was the one who protected her, though she had thought that he was the Bad Man at first.

The door had been slammed open that afternoon, just as she had finished cooking lunch. Before she could react, a man clad in green and white had grabbed her, covered her eyes and said, "Trust me."

Then she was flying. The world was burning, yet the heat was kept at bay by a presence that prickled against her skin. She screamed into the Stranger's rough palm, crying silently for Tou-san, Ichi-nii and Karin to save her.

They didn't _._

It was only after she had awoken to a frantic Karin that she learned of what happened: Karakura Town was no more.

The buildings were still standing but people were still disappearing.

Eyes wide with unshed tears, she listened to Karin's halting explanation. Her sister had been crying, she noticed dully, fingers tracing the red-rimmed eyes. Her heart ached with every word, suddenly seeing the world in a different light.

"It hurts," she murmured, lowering her head onto Karin's shoulders.

The twins held each other and sobbed for hours with Urahara-san – not the Bad Man, not anymore, not _ever _– watching over them in silence. Yoruichi-san arrrived soon after, silent and limping as she hugged them fiercely. Yuzu held her tightly, carefully avoiding the still bleeding wounds on Yoruichi-san's arms. After that, the self-proclaimed handsome shopkeeper tried to cook for them, only to give in to Yuzu's puppy eyes when she saw how the older man – it was difficult to imagine how old he really was – struggled to make a simple meal. The four of them ate slowly, talking about mundane topics and skirting painful questions.

Where was Tou-san? Was Ichi-nii alive? Where was everyone?

Three days after Soul Society lost the Winter War, they recieved their first visitor – Yadomaru Lisa. She stalked into the basement, snarled at Urahara-san, then buried herself in several stacks of questionably suggestive books. A week later, Yadomaru-san approaching her.

"You're Ichigo's sister," she said.

"Yes, Yadomaru-san. So is Karin-chan," she replied with a shy smile, not knowing what to make of the adult's blatantly aggressive stance.

The Visored relaxed, shoulders drooping slightly as she regarded Yuzu for a long moment. Then, she bobbed her head in what looked like approval before clasping her shoulder, "Alright. Time to get you started on your training. Twenty laps, now!"

She gaped at the Visored.

"Staying underground – no, dumbass, I don't care what you say, this is still a basement, and stop eavesdropping on us, URAHARA KISUKE!"

Yuzu retreated a tiny step.

"You!" A blade – when had she drawn it? – rested on the tip of her nose. "Twenty laps! You look like a wind would blow you off to Soul Society any moment. Run, eat, run, eat some more! Then I'll think about training you."

"Training? Like Karin-chan?" Yuzu asked hopefully.

Yadomaru-san nodded grimly, jerking her head towards the wide expanse of Urahara-san's training grounds.

Smiling, Yuzu started running.


End file.
